A fire engine house, a guardhouse, a watchtower, a fort, a
prison, a storage place for junk, a World Fair exhibit, a campus
museum, and a post for a Ground Observer Corps. And in four
different locations. No wonder the little building, "humble in
origin," now on the grounds of Storer College at Harpers Ferry,
West Virginia, known as "John Brown's Fort," is regarded as one of
our most historic buildings.

In this "Fire Engine and Guard House" John Brown took refuge
when his raid on Harpers Ferry, in 1859, brought mounting
resistance. Here, he and the remnant of his faithful followers were
beaten down and captured by U. S. Marines under the command of
Colonel Robert E. Lee, and the hostages whom he had assembled there
with him were released. A new name now for the little structure -
"John Brown's Fort" - and later, new locations too.

The "Fort" was built in 1847 to serve the U. S. Armory and
Arsenal. It is a one-story brick building, 35 1/2 by 24 feet, with
walls 114 feet high, gable slate roof, and open belfry. Its
original site was just inside the Armory yard, near the present
Baltimore and Ohio depot at Harpers Ferry. During the Civil War,
when the town was taken first by one and then another of the Union
and Confederate armies, the "Fort" was used alternately by both
forces as a guardhouse and a prison. After the war it was only a
storage place for junk. But there was new fame ahead, and much
traveling, including a trip to the World's Columbian Exposition in
Chicago, in 1892. The writer still feels the sorrow that was his
when his closest friend set out for the World's Fair, and he was
left behind. But the John Brown Fort went to the Fair.

In the early summer of 1892 a group gathered at Washington,
headed by Adoniram J. Holmes, of Boone, Iowa, a Civil War veteran
and former Congressman, conceived the idea of removing the Fort to
Chicago for display as one of the attractions of the World's
Columbian Exposition. A company was organized with Holmes as
President, and negotiations for purchase of the building were
begun. The owners were reluctant to sell, and were supported in
protests by the people of Harpers Ferry and the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad. The sale, however, was finally consummated. Joseph Barry,
the local historian, mourned that with its departure "much of the
glory of Harper's Ferry is gone forever."

The building was torn down with the utmost care, the pieces
numbered and the various parts were boxed separately, and shipped
to Chicago. It was re-erected at 1341 Wabash Avenue in Chicago,
outside the Exposition grounds, and enclosed in a neat frame
building. It was opened to public view in mid-September, 1892. The
architect declared that if the slightest difference could be found
in the construction of the building now from what it was when it
stood at Harpers Ferry, he would return to the company the entire
amount of his compensation.

During the Exposition visitors in considerable numbers paid
admission to enter the Fort, where they saw relics of John Brown on
exhibition, and heard a lecture delivered by Colonel S. K. Donavin,
who had been an eye-witness of the raid and subsequent trial and
execution as a correspondent for the Baltimore Daily Exchange. The
Fort Company had endeavored to get some one of John Brown's family
to appear as guide and lecturer, but none was willing to make this
public appearance. A daughter, Annie Brown Adams, housekeeper at
the Kennedy Farm and last survivor of the company gathered there,
wrote from her home at Petrolia, California: "I may be a relic of
John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, but I do not want to be placed
on exhibition with other relics and curios, as such."

The Exposition came to an end in 1893, but it was not the end of
the Fort, although it might have seemed so. The venture was not a
financial success, and at the end of the Fair, the historic fire
engine house passed from the sheriff's hands into those of
wreckers, and it was again taken down to make way for the stables
of a department store. The bricks and timbers were stacked only as
"material." But it will rise again, for John Brown's Fort was not
entirely friendless.

Back in Washington, where the movement started to take the Fort
to Chicago, a lone woman began a single-handed campaign to save the
old building from utter destruction. This woman was Kate Field,
noted journalist, actress, lecturer and publisher of Kate Field's
Washington, a weekly magazine of criticism and current affairs. She
thought of the pile of bricks and timbers and felt it a shame that
something was not done to preserve them, and in her own mind worked
out a plan of returning the material to Harpers Ferry to be
reerected at the center of a park. She had been interested in John
Brown for years - twenty-five years earlier she had raised funds to
purchase the John Brown farm at North Elba, New York, to save
Brown's home and grave from falling into alien hands. When, in
1870, she was told that she would ruin herself as a lecturer if she
insisted on eulogizing John Brown, "Then let me be ruined," was her
reply.

But Miss Field was in failing health. She discontinued her
magazine and closed her affairs in Washington in the early summer
of 1895. However, she did not lose sight of her plans for the Fort.
After a couple of visits to Harpers Ferry to look for a site, she
started to the west. At Chicago she met her old friend H. H.
Kohlsaat, publisher of the Chicago Times-Herald, who gave her an
assignment to Hawaii to write for his paper and to work for the
annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States. Meanwhile,
she continued her campaign to restore the John Brown Fort - she
secured permission of the owners to take possession of the pile of
bricks and timbers without cost to her. Now her big problem was to
secure sufficient funds to carry out the plan of restoration.

Colonel Simpson K. Donavin who had lectured on John Brown in the
period of the Exposition wished to promote lecture tours, that he
might continue to tell the John Brown story. Knowing Miss Field's
interest in Brown, he hoped she might be willing to assist him in
his plans, and to this end he appealed to his intimate friend,
Attorney Robert McCabe, with whom he had been closely associated in
Delaware, Ohio, to arrange an interview for him with Miss Field.
The interview was arranged at Chicago. Then, Miss Field turned to
Mr. McCabe to assist her in her plans to restore the Fort.

The writer, when living in Delaware, Ohio, heard the story which
follows from Robert McCabe himself, and it is presented here as he
told it.

Miss Field and Mr. McCabe undertook to raise the funds necessary
for the restoration but were not too successful at the start. Men
of means ridiculed their appeal for financial aid for such a "wild
scheme." One wealthy man said he would not "give a cent for such a
crazy idea," and that "you two ought to be ashamed of yourselves."
And then he gave one hundred dollars. Other amounts of ten, fifteen
and twenty dollars were secured but the total was far too small. It
looked discouraging.

One day when "the two" were wondering if their plan must fail
because of lack of funds, Miss Field suddenly cried out: "What is
the matter with me? I have not used my wits." She had been watching
the smoke that poured out from the chimneys of some of Chicago's
largest breweries. "All my life I have stood for personal liberty,
and have lectured on it since I was a girl," she said. In her
lectures she had often said: "I believe in temperance which does
not enforce total abstinence on one's neighbors; I believe in
personal liberty."

Acting at once on Miss Field's new idea of approach, they set
out together and first visited the McAvoy brewery on 23rd Street
and South Park Way. Kate Field sent in her card, and almost before
they were aware of it they were ushered into the presence of Mr.
McAvoy in his inner office. "What do you want?" asked the brewer,
with his usual directness. He laughed when he was told the purpose
of their errand. "How much do you want?" he asked. Miss Field told
him they needed two thousand dollars to complete the restoration.
"Will that be enough?" was his further question. "I think I can get
that much for you." He called for some of his associates and in a
short time the sum of two thousand dollars was in Miss Field's
possession. It was placed in the care of Charles L. Hutchinson, of
the Corn Exchange National Bank in Chicago. Mr. Hutchinson was the
son of the famous old "Hutch," known so well for his trading in
wheat.

The work now began in earnest. Miss Field secured from Melville
E. Stone, head of the Associated Press, the free use of the A. P.
wire service for the transaction of all business connected with her
plan. Also, she was given free transportation by the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad of all material from Chicago to Harpers Ferry; and in
addition, free passes for all persons in any way connected with the
work of restoring the John Brown Fort.

Although the railroad was willing to grant the original site, or
one as near to it as changed conditions would permit, Kate Field,
for some reason, preferred a new location. Seven acres on the farm
of Alexander Murphy on Bolivar Heights were finally secured. A
local newspaper described the site: "The place on Murphy's farm
selected for the re-erection of the John Brown Fort is the point at
Bull's Falls where the Shenandoah makes a sharp curve. The Fort
will be seen from the cars as they go over from the Island of
Virginia and past the pulp mill. There are in the neighborhood
beautiful sites for summer homes."

Now that sufficient funds had been raised and a site chosen, the
next thing that must be done was to choose some one to supervise
the construction. A man claiming to be a contractor presented
himself and gave assurance that he was peculiarly fitted to do the
work. Many others offered their services, some of them Negroes; in
fact, several applicants seemed to covet this opportunity,
especially that of handling the funds. The first applicant, Edward
Cummins, had what Mr. McCabe called "an affidavit face." He seemed
so sincere that he was finally entrusted with the responsibility of
restoration. He spoke at length of the appeal this enterprise made
to him, and said he would regard it as the greatest honor of his
life to restore the historic old building. He made clear that he
would charge nothing apart from his necessary expenses in view of
the great privilege that would be his in this most worthy
undertaking.

Kate Field left for Hawaii in early September, 1895, but before
leaving, she entrusted to her friend and attorney, Robert McCabe,
the completion of the work she had begun, and made him sole
custodian of the remaining funds.

Mr. McCabe soon faced objections. Rumors began to be circulated
that it was the intention to recover, if possible, the remains of
the followers of John Brown who lost their lives at the time of the
raid whose bodies had been buried along the Shenandoah. The Spirit
of Jefferson, Charles Town newspaper, reported: "When Kate Field
can get a piece of ground large enough on which to replace the old
enginehouse these bodies will be reinterred near the fort and a
monument erected above them, bearing their names and the incidents
of their death." The article indicated no opposition to a plan "to
re-erect the enginehouse where Robert E. Lee captured the old
villain," but to memorialize "his crew" was "going just a little
too far, and those engaged in it had better think twice before they
attempt it." On October 5, 1895, Mr. McCabe wrote a letter to
George W. Haines, Esq., of Charlestown, West Virginia, editor of
the Spirit of Jefferson, in which he made clear that he was well
acquainted with the views of Miss Field before she left for Hawaii,
and that she had left matters wholly in his hands. He declared the
rumor to be unfounded, that "Miss Field has no desire or intention
of offending your people, and that John Brown's Fort would not have
been returned had the movement met with opposition." That much was
settled, but there was more to come.

Meanwhile Cummins had gone from Chicago to Harpers Ferry to
begin his "altruistic mission." Rumblings from Harpers Ferry
reached the ears of Miss Field in Hawaii. It was reported that the
Fort must never go up again, and if it did it would be torn down.
She sent an urgent message to Mr. McCabe to go at once to Harpers
Ferry to see what it was all about. Upon his arrival there, Mr.
McCabe immediately consulted the station agent, Mr. E. B. Chambers,
and from him soon learned what the trouble was. It was not the fact
that the Fort was to be restored; it was trouble being caused by
the contractor who had come from Chicago to do the work. Mr.
Chambers had been of great assistance to Miss Field and Mr. McCabe
on their visits when they chose a site, and he proved of greater
help after Mr. McCabe's conference with him. "I'll tell you what,"
said Mr. Chambers, "we won't allow this. This man Cummins has
outraged the community, he has called our people rebels. He is
abusive, he is lazy and good for nothing. He has not paid his men,
and they are unable to pay for their board or room rent. All he
does is fish. He is an intolerant fellow. We won't allow the thing
to stand. This man must be gotten out of here." Mr. Cummins' wife
and children had to come with him to Harpers Ferry, but all they
had to do, according to Mr. Chambers, was "sit around while he
fished."

Mr. McCabe went to see Cummins. He proved to be determined, and
doggedly insisted that he would go through with the work he had
begun. He declared that he would do just as he pleased; that he had
a contract, and would secure a mechanic's lien if more money was
not immediately forthcoming. Mr. McCabe, as the representative of
Miss Field, even though he had the authority and was himself an
attorney, was not disposed to enter upon court proceedings.

In another quiet conference with the station agent, a new idea
developed. "Suppose," said Mr. Chambers, "we throw Cummins into the
river. There are plenty of boys in town who would be glad of the
chance, after all he has said and done. We won't hurt him, but I
think he will be through here when we are through with him." A plan
was agreed upon.

Later, about midnight, Mr. McCabe was awakened at his hotel and
was told that a woman insisted on seeing him immediately. The
landlord said the woman evidently was in great distress and "was
scared to death." It was Mrs. Cummins, and she had come to report
that her husband had been thrown into the river, but that he had
finally saved himself and had escaped to their rooms where he was
now in hiding. She begged Mr. McCabe to come with her at once to
see what could be done for their safety. McCabe, perhaps with a
slight twinkle in his eye, seemed to hesitate, then said: "I guess
I better not go, for they may kill me too. This looks like a very
dangerous situation." In a moment, however, he agreed to go if the
landlord would go with him, and the landlord, without a moment's
hesitation, said he would go.

The two men went with the distressed woman to the Cummins'
lodgings. When Cummins came out from hiding, he cried out, "What
can I do?" He said he was convinced the only thing for him to do
was to get away as quickly as possible, and he made it clear that
was what he most wanted to do. He said he did not have enough money
for railroad fare, but if he had he would go back to Chicago on the
morning train. Mr. McCabe gave him fifty dollars, took a receipt,
and was given the original contract which Cummins cancelled. The
"altruistic" contractor and his family left Harpers Ferry on the
four o'clock train that very morning.

Mr. McCabe returned to his friend, the station agent, to make a
report. Now, a new contractor must be found. Mr. Chambers was
proficient in many lines and was held in high regard by all of the
local citizens. He accepted the responsibility of supervising the
restoration of the John Brown Fort on the site chosen by Kate
Field. There was no contract, but Mr. Chambers' work was done in
honor. "We do things that way here," he said. There was no further
public opposition, and no further delay in the work. The press
supported Mr. Chambers and the plan of Miss Field. The Harpers
Ferry station agent saved the day. And so once again the
much-traveled little building was "back from the Fair" and at home
in Harpers Ferry. But it still has one more move to make.

After the restoration of the Fort, an avenue was surveyed from
the Valley Pike to its new site, and building lots were staked off
in hopes of a building boom. Miss Field failed to find health in
Hawaii and her death occurred at Honolulu on May 19, 1896, soon
after the work of restoration had been completed. With her passing
the project languished - none of the houses was built, the plan for
a park collapsed, leaving the old fire- engine house to stand alone
in its lonely isolation. And there it stood until 1909, the
fiftieth anniversary of John Brown's raid, when the structure was
taken over and removed to the campus of Storer College in Harpers
Ferry, a co-educational institution for Negro students. Again it
was restored, to be used as a museum to house mementos of Harpers
Ferry and John Brown. There it stands today, though the college was
suspended at the end of the 1955 term. The outer courses of bricks
were not carefully separated in this restoration, hence it has a
somewhat mottled appearance. In all things essential, however, it
is the original "Fort."

Since 1954 this building, "one of the nation's most colorful
buildings historically," has been a Ground Observer Corps post, and
from its belfry volunteers scan the skies for enemy aircraft.

A fire engine house, a guardhouse, a watchtower, a fort, a
prison, a storage place for junk, a World Fair exhibit, a campus
museum, and a post for a Ground Observer Corps. Visit the John
Brown Fort and you will read this message on a white marble tablet
set in its wall:

That this nation might have a new birth of freedom, That slavery
should be removed forever from American soil, John Brown and his 21
men gave their lives. To commemorate their heroism, this tablet is
placed on this building which since has been known as John Brown's
Fort by the alumni of Storer College, 1918.